Beware of the Bubble

A new report identifies London and Hong Kong as the global markets most at risk of a property bubble

By John ElliotOriginally published on October 29, 2015|Mansion Global|

From top to pop?

Bloomberg News reports on new analysis by financial services firm UBS Group AG that identifies international property hotspots London and Hong Kong as the cities most at risk of experiencing a real estate bubble.

The U.K. capital is now the second-least affordable of the 15 urban centers studied by UBS, trailing only Hong Kong, the report said. Price-to-income and price-to-rent values have surged to all-time highs even as real earnings have fallen 7 percent in London since 2007, UBS said.

“House prices have decoupled most from local incomes in Hong Kong, London, Paris, Singapore, New York and Tokyo,” Matthias Holzhey, an economist at UBS’s chief investment office and wealth management unit, said. “Buying a 60-square-meter apartment exceeds the budget of most people who work even in the highly-skilled service sector.”

The report further identified San Francisco, Sydney and Vancouver as “significantly overvalued” while rating New York and Boston as fair and Chicago as undervalued.